A Collection Of Scars : Volume 1/NoVisibleScars/2012 Compilation

  This  is  a  review  of  a  compilation  frok  NOVisibleScars  wwich  was  released  in  2012  called  "A  Collection  Of  Scars  :  Volume  1"  and  we  will  review  the  songs  one  by  one.

  Scorcehed  Earth  brings  us  "Fucking  Metal  Motherfuckers"  which  is  a  Scepter  cover  and  the  song  is  a  cross  between  black  metal  and  old  school  thrash.

  Next  up  is  Your  Kids  On  Fire  with  "K  Town  Beatdown"  a  very  raw  and  primitive  song  that  mixes  grindcore  with  thrash.

  Next  up  is  Abazagorth  with  "Lapse"  a  very  atmospheric,  raw  and  primitive  sounding  old  school  black  metal  song.

  Next  up  is  Vestal  Claret  with  "Three  And  Three  Are  Six" a  song  that  mixtes  traditional  doom   with  classic  metal  and  occult  rock.

  Next  up  is  Profantica  with  "Weeping  In  Heaven"  a classic  blasphemous  black  metal  song  from  the  early  90's.

  Next  up  is  Nightbitch  with  Nightbitch"  a  song  that  mixes  traditional  doom  with  occult  rock,  classic  and  sleaze  metal.

  Next  up  is  Fornicator  with  "Destroy  These  Cunts"  a  very  havy  and  brutal  porno  grind  song.

  Next  up  is  Elders  Of  The  Apocalypse  with  "Spell  Of  Destruction"  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  black/war  metal  song.

  Next  up  is  Blessed  Offal  with  "An  Unnatural  Ending  In  Excrement"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  death  metal  song  that  has  a v ery  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it.

  Next  up  is  Earthlord  with  "Gods  Of  Antiquity"  a  very  old  school  sounding  stoner/doom  metal  song.

  Next  up  is  Ungod  with  "Deus  Est  Homo"  a  very  fast,  raw  and  primitive  sounding  old  school  occult  black  metal  song.

  Next  ip  is  Degenerate  Slug  with  "Deranged"  a  song  that  mixes  industrial  with  harsh  sounding  noise  and  ambient.

  Next  up  is  Draath  with  "Invocation  III  The  Black  Portal"  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sounding  occult  black  metal  song.

  Next  up  is  Slumber  Room  with  "Everyone...No  One"  a  song  that  mixes  industrial  with  a  raw  and  primitive  sounding  black  metal.

  Next  up  is  Cannibal  Rites  with  "Grave  Ghoul"  a  very  old  school  raw  and  primitive  sounding  death/grind  song.

  Next  up  is  Vomit  Breath  with  "Living  Dead  Girl"  a  very  fast  and  heavy  sounding  brutal  death/grind  song.

  Next  up  is  Vein  with  "Into  The  Vein"  a v ery  heavy,  raw  and  primitive  sounding  black/war/death  metal  song.

  Next  up  is  Murder  Basket  with  "Fuck  That  Fucker"  avery  fast  and  brutal  sounding  death/grind  song.

  Next  up  is  Reclusa  with  "Life  From  lifelessness"  a  song  that  mixes  dark  ambient,  industrial  and  noise  together  with  some  heavy  guitars.

  Next  up  is  Fecalove  with  "Vamos  A  Mater"  a  song  that  is  in  the  more  avant  garde  noise  direction  than  it  gets  very  brutal  sounding  towards  the  end.

  Next  up  is  Subklinik  with  "Konztruk"  a n  indusstrial  song  that  mixes  in  some  harsh  noise  lements.

  Next  up  is  RU-486  with  "Conveyer  Of  Broken  Dreams"  a  very  harsh  and  brutal  sounding  noise  song.

  Next  up  is  Ninika  with  "Sorry,  I  Cant  Be  With  You"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  noise  song  that  uses  a  great  amount  of  distortion.

  Next  up  is  Mania  with  "Untitled"  another  song  that  mixes  dark  ambient  wit h  harsh  noise.

  Next  up  is  Death  Factory  with  "Shatter  The  Glass  Tower"  a  song  that  mixes  death  industrial  with  harsh  sounding  noise.

  Next  up  is  Wallkeeper  with  "Wallkeeper-Vier  Filegen  auf  graem"   anothr  avant  garde  death  industrial/noise  song.

  Next  up  is  M.Todd L.Keer  with  "4.01"  asong  that  combines  dark  ambient  with  avant  garde  noise.

  Next  up  is  Custodian  with  "Interior  Pt,  2"  a  song  that  mixes  harsh  noise  with  death  industrial.

  Next  up  is  Poison  Tongue  with  "Interlude"  a  song  that  mixes  black  ambient  with  death  industrial  and  ritualistic  music.

  Next  up  is  Coffin  Flesh  with  "Seeing  Things  Part  3"  a  very  harsh  and  brutal  sounding  death  industrial  song.

  Next  up  is  Mazakan  Tactics  with  "Promise"  a  song  that  mixes  dark  sounding  ambient  with  death  industrial.

  Next  up  is  Naga  with  "Divine  Manifestation  Technigue"  a  song  that  mixes  dark  ambient  with  harsh  noise  and  industrial.

  Next  up  is  Four  Flies  with  "COld  Eyes  Of  Fear(Your  Last  Screram  Will  Be  The  Loudest)"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  harsh  noise/death  industrial  song.

  Next  up  is  Over  with  "Over  sample"  a  very  dark  sounding  death  industrial  song.

  Next  up  is  Mt  Black  Gloves  with  "Vice  ANd  Pantyhose"  another  song  that  goes  for  the  death  industrial  sound.

  Next  up  is  Namazu  Dantai  with  "Sample"  a  very  long  and  epic  in  length  death  industrial  song.

  Next  up  is  Transcendent  Device  with  "River  Of  Phenomenon"  a  long  dark  ambient   song.

  Next  up  is  Gluttones  with  "A  Lesson  In  Manners"  a  song  that  mixes  brutal  death  industrial  with  harsh  noise.

  Next  up  is  Ur  with  "Tack  1  Sample"  a  very  long  and  epic  in  length  song  that  mixes  darjk  ambient  with  harsh  noise  and  death  industrial.

  Closing  the  compilation  is  Paregorik  with  "mot  Today  Or  Tommorrow  Sample"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  death  industrial  song.

  In  conclussion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  compilation w ith  alot  of  variety  and  I  would  recommend  to  all  fans  of  heavy,  dark,  evil,  and  brutal  music.  RECOMMENDED.

Wishdoom/Helepolis/Metal On Metal Records/2011 CD Review

  Wishdoom  are  a  band  that  mixes  traditional  doom,  power  and  classic metal together  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Helepolis"  which  was  released  by  Metal  On  Metal  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording,  as  for  the  pianos  which  are  only  used  on  the  last  song  they  bring  a  depressive  sound  to  the  music.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  riffing  that  combines  traditional  doom,  power  and  classic  metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  traditional  metal  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  which  are  only  used  briefly  use  finger  picking  to  add  a  more  epic  sound  to  the  music.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean singing  power  metal  vocals  with  some  shouts  and  spoken  word  parts  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  lyrics  cover  Mythology,  Paganism,  Fantasy  and  Battle  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful, heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on t his  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Wishdoom  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  doom,  power  and  traditional  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  style, you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Battle  Of  Plataea"  "Cimmerian Plains - Son  Of  Crom"  "Zues  The  Thunderer"  and  "Screaming  Blade".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.
    

Heathendom/The Symbolist/Metal On Metal Records/2011 CD Review

  This  is  another  review  of  an  album  from  Heathendom  with  the  music  on  this  recording  combining  traditional  doom  with  power  metal and  technical  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "The  Symbolist"  which  was  released  by  Metal  On  Metal  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  no  fast  playing or  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  keyboards  which  are  only  utilized  briefly  bring  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  to  the  music  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  violins,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  riffs  that  combine  traditional  doom,  power  metal  and  technical  thrash  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  as  well  as  a  good  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  being  thrown  into t he  riffing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  doom/power  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  classical  guitars  which  are  only  utilized  briefly  they  use  finger  picking  to  enhance  the  darkness  that  is  coming  out  of  the  music.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  power  metal  vocals  with  some  more  aggressive  sounding  parts  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  anti  religion  themes,  as  for  the  production  it has  a  very  strong,powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on t his  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Heathendom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  music  that  combines  traditional  doom,  power  metal  and  technical  thrash  together,  you  should  check out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Symbolist"  "Black  Euphoria"  "Die  Insane"  and  "An  Angel,  A  Demon  And  A  Dying  God".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Heathendom//Nescience/Metal On Metal Records/2010 CD Review

  This  is  another  review  of  an  album  from  Heathendom  which  combines  traditional  doom  and  power  metal  on  this  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2010  album  "Nescience"  which  was  released  by  Metal  On  Metal  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or  blast  beats  being  present on  this  recording a s  well  as  a  brief  use  of  tribal  sounding percussion,  while  the  keyboards  which  are  only  used  on the  intro  as  well  as  a  couple  of  other  songs  bring  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  to t he  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  riffing  that  combines  traditional  doom  with  power  metal  as  well  as  having  a  good  amount  of  melody  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  doom/power  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for t he  classical  guitars  which  are  only  used  briefly  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  enhance  the  darkness  that  is  coming out  of  the  music.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  power  metal  vocals  with  some  more  aggressive  parts  being  utilized  at  times  that  bring  a  death  metal  edge  to  the  recording  as  well  as  a  brief  spoken  word  part  and  female  vocals,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  anti religion  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and professional sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  with  the  last  song  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

   In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Heathendom  and  if  you are  a  fan  of  power/doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS INCLUDE  "Nescience"  "The  Doll  House"  "I  Bleed"  and  "A  Sick  Man's  Dreams - Blissful Hell".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Heathendom/Self Titled/Metal On Metal Records/2010 LP Re-Issue Review

  Heathendom  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  mixture  of  traditional  doom  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2005  demo  which  was  re-issued  on  vinyl  by  Metal  On  Metal  Records.

  Drums  are  all  slow  to  mid  paced  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or  blast  beats  being  present  on t his recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sounding  with  heavy  doom  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording,  as  for  the  keyboards  they  are  only  used  on  the  instrumental  and  the  last  song  and  they  bring  a  dark  sound  to  the  music.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  all  slow  to  mid  paced  riffs  that  combine  traditional  doom  with  power  metal  along  with  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  at  times  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars a re  very  melodic  sounding  doom/power  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  classical  guitars  which  are  only  used  on t he  last  song  they  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  enhance  the  darkness  that  is  coming  out  of  the  music..

  Vocals  range  from  high  pitched  power  metal  singing  with  some  deeper  demonic  vocals  being  utilized  at  times  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  female  vocals,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  anti  religion  themes,  as  for t he  production  it h as  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on t his  recording  with  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Heathendom  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  traditional  doom  and  power  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "War  And  Pain"  and  "Silent  Mangling".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Clamfight Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Well we had our record release show at Kung Fu Necktie in Philly, with Thee Nosebleeds, Wizard Eye, and Kings Destroy last Friday night and it was an absolute blast. We'll be in Connecticut and Rochester, New York in a week, and back in the Philly at the end of the month before playing "The Eye of the Stoned Goat" festival in Delaware with Iron Man, Pale Divine, Beelzefuzz, and a bunch of other excellent bands on Feb. 9th. Beyond that it's lining up as many shows as possible for the spring and early summer.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous recordings?

We made a conscious effort to be more direct with the songs on "I Versus the Glacier" and to craft a more cohesive record than "Volume 1." We're proud of the first one but those songs were written over a period of years, whereas the window that we wrote "I Versus the Glacier" in was much tighter, and the songs that came later in the writing process were definitely written to fit what had come before. "The Eagle" was probably the first song we wrote for this record, and besides leading off the record it really sets the tone for the rest of the album-a main riff that's as heavy as anything we've ever written, screaming vocals, and a bridge that gives us license to wander a bit before bringing it back to end on the bruiser riff again.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?

On a superficial level the lyrics for "I Versus the Glacier" seem all over the map but it's an intensely personal record for me and most of the lyrics interrelate to the point where it's almost a concept record. Besides the wild card songs like "Age of Reptiles: Rhedosaurus" and "Stealing the Ghost Horse" most of the songs are are about perseverance in the face of death and how you move on after that kind of a loss. Whether finding peace through the sweat and ache of manual labor as in "Mountain" or buying yourself a few hours escape through Frank Herbert's "Dune" series in "Sand Riders" most of these songs are somehow tied to grief and how you learn to live with it. Essentially for a record full of pretty dark imagery it's ultimately very positive.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

I'll let Sean handle this-Well, since Scissorfight was taken, we chose the next best thing. But seriously, to understand where the name came from, you have to get into the mindset of 4 guys in their early twenties who are constantly trying to one up each other. We've been friends since high school, some of us before that, and we've grown up together, both as musicians and friends. We like to make each other laugh, and when somebody threw out the term "Clamfight," I think it was Joel, we all agreed it sounded like the name of a metal band, and we made it so. At the time, I (Sean) could only make it home to jam once a month, and we knew it would be years before we could do something more frequent. We weren't sure what was going to come of those jam sessions, so the name wasn't of much importance. When I finished school and got settled back home, we actually had a handful of songs in the bag and we liked the direction we were headed, so we stuck with it. Admittedly, it may not have been our best decision as a band and since then we've actually kicked around the idea of changing our name, but that would be like admitting we're trying to accomplish something we're not. Since those early jam sessions, we want to hold true to the idea of great friends writing good music together but we don't want to take ourselves too seriously in doing it.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Recently we did a weekender with Kings Destroy and Black Pyramid which was a great time. Great guys, great bands, and some pretty well received shows. Philly's always great because it's home, and when all your friends are in bands sometimes the only way you see each other is when you're sharing a bill, so Philly shows are almost an excuse for everyone to hang out as well as play a show. We're also really lucky to be friends with some incredible Philly bands and since we never want to have a bad show in front of our buddies when they've just destroyed the place, we tend to play extra hard. Beyond that we always love playing Rochester, Delaware, Baltimore, basically any place where people are willing to get in your face and bang their heads along with you.

Performance wise we value intensity over musical perfection any day. It's always a little odd to me when you see a band finish playing and it looks like they barely broke a sweat. I'm not sure I'd feel right about getting off the stage without being covered in sweat, blood, and with my drum kit any less than half destroyed. I'd feel like I phoned it in, and that's just not what we do.

6. Do you have any touring plans for the new release?

We've all got full time, capital "J" Jobs, so anything like a full US tour is impossible at the moment. However we love to travel and play shows as much as we can while maintaining rooves over our heads. I would say if you're east of the Mississippi you will have an opportunity to see Clamfight this year. Beyond that I wouldn't completely rule out a western US run at some point, it's just a matter of getting the logistics together.

7. The new album is coming out on Maple Forum, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

We've known JJ Koczan, the Grand Magus of the Obelisk.net and the Maple Forum for a years, actually since we were first starting out and playing shows with his old band Maegashira, who were incredible by the way. He approached us when we self released the our first record, "Volume 1" in 2010 , a record he pushed pretty hard through the Obelisk.net, and since we were pretty horrible at self releasing that record I'd have to give a lot of the credit for getting the word out about it to him. When it comes to "I Versus the Glacier" he's been beyond patient and supportive, we really can't say enough about how much the guy means to us.

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge?

It's been pretty positive and we love hearing from people outside of the US. We sold copies of the first record to folks in Brazil, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, and the UK to name a few, and it really means a lot any time someone reaches out to us to either buy a record or tell us they dug it. We've also gotten some great reviews out of Argentina and again, we can't say enough how much we appreciate it.

9. Are there any other musical projects going on these days?

For as long my Clamfight schedule allows I'm drumming for two pretty amazing cats in Delaware who operate under the name of Heavy Temple. Speaking only for myself, I'd describe it as female fronted psych-doom and it's great stuff, it's an honor to be part of it. Beyond that Sean and I have had this long gestating fishing themed-hardcore band called Shad Time for ages, perhaps in 2012 people will actually get to hear it.

10. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

This is something we've talked about quite a lot recently and we've started easing our way back into writing mode. Things could change of course, it's always a pretty organic process with us but judging by what we've written so far, I think you'll see Clamfight getting back into longer songs and experimenting with dynamics more. We really set out to make "I Versus the Glacier" as direct and aggressive as we could, but on our next release, be it a split, ep, or full length or what have you, you'll probably see us going in the opposite direction somewhat while still maintaining that aggression.

11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Honestly, Pink Floyd is probably the band we listen to the most in the truck, and by a pretty wide margin, and that's definitely a big part of why we're eyeing expanding our dynamic range down the line. Since the beginning of Clamfight bands like Clutch, Tool, Pantera, Sleep, Eyehategod, Crowbar, and Mastodon were all pretty influential on us as well.

When we were actively writing "I Versus the Glacier" Sean and I both swore off listening to anything current for fear of accidentally being influenced so I think we both missed a lot of great records that came out in 2010/11 and we're both playing catch up right now and digging the hell out of the last Yob, High on Fire, Red Fang, Hooded Menace, and Om releases, and obviously the new Neurosis record hasn't left my car stereo since my fiance gave it to me for Christmas.

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Sean and I are the resident rednecks of Clamfight, a lot of our non-music time is spent fishing, and I'm spending as much time goose hunting as possible right now. Louis is a home beer-brewing monster and Joel's our MacGyver car guy and jerky making wizard. Beyond that I've got a few short horror stories floating around on the internet with probably some more surfacing in 2012, again, depending on how busy Clamfight keeps me.

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview? Thanks for taking the time to ask a few questions and as always thanks to anyone who's come out to a show, bought a CD or a shirt or offered us a floor to crash on. We're looking to meet a lot more of you in 2013.

 

Sesta Marconi/Where The Devil Dances/Metal On Metal Records/2009 CD Re

  Sesta  Marconi  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  mixes  traditional  doom  with  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2009  album  "Where  The  Devil  Dances"  which  was  released  by  Metal  On  Metal  Records/

  Drums  are  slow  playing  with  no  fast  playing  or  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.
 
  Rhythm  guitars  are  all  slow  riffs  that  combine  traditional  doom  metal  with  classic  metal  with  a  good  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  as  well  as  some  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  sounding  doom  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  which  are  only  used  the  they  use  full  chords  to  ad  more  variety  to  the  music .

  Vocals a re  all  clean  singing  traditional  doom  metal  vocals,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  theme  with  a  touch  of  occultism  and  voodoo,  as  for  the  production  it has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present on  the  recording  with the  songs  being  long  and  length.

  In  my  opinion  Seast  Marconi  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  tradtional  doom  and  classic  metal  and  if  you are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  this  band  out.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Gruesome  Woe"  "Rock  n  Roll  Voodoo  Style"  and  "Vanitas  (The  Leper  Queen)".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.